The Cricket's Cage
by RosieB
Summary: In Inuyasha's time, crickets were prized for their songs and served as muses for stories and poems. A collection of oneshots and drabbles of all pairings and genres.
1. My Obligation

So I've decided to start a collection of one-shots. They have no connection with each other and they'll vary in rating, pairing, genre, length, etc. I'll tell you what's what for each one. The ones that are Sess/Kag will be posted on SingleSpark under the same collection name. They're basically just for me to vent a bit of inspiration without embarking on a whole new serial fic. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning whatever story I'm presently working on. I don't do that. So enjoy!

Disclaimer for all stories in this collection: If I profited, I'd be paying off law school. Suck it, copyright.

Pairing: Sess/Kag

Rating: PG (if that)

Genre: Romance/Drama

Warnings: Talking about character death.

My Obligation

Hospitals are never quiet. That's what she learned in the first few hours she was there. So it was no surprise that it was the quiet that woke her up in the middle of the night.

Her mother had gone home hours ago, so that Sota and Grandpa would have a hot dinner. Kagome had insisted. And now, in the quiet of her private room, she was still glad that her family had not stayed. She wept silently, drenching her pillow with her tears. She smeared them with the heel of her hand, wishing she could stop, but the pain in her chest was wringing all of the salt from her body.

The bandages itched and she rubbed her damp fingers over the edges, her nails raking across the skin in the places it was particularly bad. The doctors had told her not to do that, that she would encourage infection, but she didn't particularly care. The stitches were even worse. The ends of the hard floss scratched at her skin, driving her mad. She wished she could increase the flow of her painkillers, but she knew it wouldn't help. Then everything would just itch in her mind. At least the bandages and stitches distracted from that.

The door opened suddenly, letting in a flood of light from the hallway, making her see bright diamonds of the light as it passed through the tears in her eyes. The door closed again and she tried to sit up.

"What do you want?" Her voice was thick from the crying.

"Nothing. I am here for my final obligation and then I will leave."

She could see his silver hair in the darkness, even before he crossed the room and threw the curtains open. The lights of Tokyo shone behind him as he turned back and she saw that he was wearing a dark, expensive suit. She leaned back on her pillow and pulled the blankets to her chin. "What's your _obligation_ to me?"

"I have no obligation to you, only to my idiot younger brother," said the taiyoukai, straightening his cuffs. He clasped his arms behind him and stared at her steadily, the gold of his eyes reflecting the blues and greens and reds of the city lights. "He is dead."

Kagome felt the rise of a sob in her throat but choked it back. "I figured."

"All of your friends are dead, with the exception of that small fox demon." He ignored the startled look of hope she gave him. "He called me at my office, and tried to convince me to allow him to accompany me here, but my promises said nothing of him. He plans to visit you tomorrow."

She sighed and turned her head away. "Is that all?" she asked softly. "You just came to tell me that they all died after I left?"

He came to the foot of her bed, looking skeletal in the half-light. "You could have wished for anything," he said softly. "For life, wealth, power, for the entirety of your soul. You could have kept the well open. You could have given my brother anything. Demon blood or Kikyo's life or even peace. But you only wished for its destruction. Why?"

Kagome clutched at the blankets. Her mother had brought her old quilt from her room earlier, and it's worn stitching lay beneath her fingers in a comforting, familiar way. "It was the only wish that wouldn't have tainted it. You know that."

The dog demon nodded. "He made me promise that I would ask you," he said. "I do not know why."

"He probably wanted to know," she said. "Of course, since he's dead, that can't really help him." Her voice was more bitter than she intended. "Now, are you done?"

"No."

"What is it you want?" she cried, tossing her head back onto the pillows again, tears leaking from her eyes. Sobs echoed through the room for a few minutes.

He waited until she was done, took out his handkerchief and handed it to her. She didn't thank him, but noticed for the first time that he had a prosthetic arm. It was smooth and pale, and in the dark it looked real. "When did you get that?" she asked. She wasn't embarrassed that she had cried.

"The first one? A century ago or more. I do not remember. This one, I received only a few months ago." He stretched it out and looked at it as if for the first time. "It is still insufficient for my needs, but human technology has not adapted yet." His golden eyes shifted to her injuries. "How long will you be in this place?"

She shrugged. There wasn't anything to go back to, so why should she care? "I don't know. A week or so? Maybe two. Then I'll have to have physical therapy for my leg," she said, nodding towards the appendage wrapped thickly in bandages. The demon had almost cut clean through her calf. She was fortunate that she wasn't an amputee herself. "The muscle was almost severed."

"I know," he replied simply and she nodded, knowing that he did. He had been there. He had been the one to kill the demon actually, as it had sank its teeth into her flesh. She had been too exhausted to purify it, almost too exhausted to scream. She had never thanked him, but she didn't really plan on doing it now. For her, it was yesterday. For him, it was five hundred years in the past. He would mock her if she tried.

"What happened?" she asked suddenly, her eyes turning onto him. They were still shining with tears.

The taiyoukai let out a small sigh. He remembered the moment of victory over Naraku and the moment the Jewel had been united in Kagome's hands as she bled onto the grass. He thought she would die. Inuyasha thought so too, and was alternately screaming at him to use Tenseiga on her and begging Kagome to live. He wasn't sure if his little brother understood that Tenseiga only saved the dead. The others stood nearby, clutching at one another.

He remembered the moment Kagome had made her wish, her cracked lips whispering the words in a painful breath. As the Jewel disappeared, so did she. The monk later said that she had gone back to her own time, but it was a long time after that conversation that the taiyoukai understood what that meant.

"After you left, Inuyasha remained in the village," he said slowly, keeping an eye upon the heart monitor at her bedside. "He spent his life watching the well. He grew old and he died in the beginning of the eighteenth century."

Kagome turned over, burying her face into the pillow and pulling at the tubes running over her body. The taiyoukai sighed again. "Did you truly expect my brother to ever be peaceful in life? Be glad he died. It is the only time he could stop the torture of his life." He watched as her shoulders shook with her silent sobs. "He did not forget you. Is that not enough? I answered his call when he was on his deathbed and he told me to find you in this year, on this day. I did not know then what a hospital was. He gave me Tetsusaiga to bind me to my oath." He didn't say that he could still not use the Fang.

She convulsed more and he heard the wet sounds of running tears and a running nose. She pressed his handkerchief to her face again. "He told me to tell you everything you asked. About what happened." He paused and listened to her sobs subside again into half-hysterical hiccups. "Your friends, the monk and demon slayer, married and had several children. I have not followed their descendants, but they had many sons. I am sure you can find their issue if you wish. I have already told you of the fox. I am sure he can tell you more."

"Why did he send you?" she whispered as she removed her mouth from the pillow. "Why you? Why not Shippo?"

"I do not know," he lied.

"Was this supposed to make me feel better?" she asked. "Coming here the day after I lost all of them and telling me that not only can't I reach them, but they're almost all dead too?"

Sesshoumaru stood silently at the foot of the bed for a moment. "I do not know," he said again.

"Then leave. You've done nothing to help either of us."

He took a deep breath and straightened his tie. "Very well. I will not return again." He moved towards the door.

"I didn't say that, Sesshoumaru-sama."

He frowned and turned back to her. "That is an unfamiliar and unnecessary title," he said. "I cannot be a lord of an extinct race. I am one of the few left."

She nodded. "I still want you to leave." She coughed a wet cough that sent her heartbeat into a rapid pattering on the monitor. "But if I asked, would you come back tomorrow night?"

"No."

Kagome watched him as he opened the door and closed it softly behind him. "Alright," she said to the empty room.

A day passed and people streamed through the room. Every time she thought her tears had run dry, someone new would show up to remind her of what she had lost in the past, or what she would lose in the future. Shippo came for an hour and they cried together, a refreshing but still painful change. As the light waned and turned to orange, yellow, purple and gold, he left and the nurses told her there would be no more for the day.

She waited and with the night, the quiet returned and so did he. She smiled at him and pointed him towards the chair beside the bed, where Shippo had been a few hours before. "How did you get in?" she asked. "Visitor hours are over."

He sat down, putting his elbows on the arms of the chair and frowned at her. "I own the hospital," he said simply.

"Oh." She played the edge of the quilt. It was down around her waist tonight. "Do you own many hospitals?"

"Only this one," he said, still frowning. "A businessman without a charity or two is labeled as cold-hearted."

"You are cold-hearted."

He nodded. "But most of my investors have never met me personally."

Kagome let out a soft noise like a laugh and turned away. "I bet you can be charming at the charity balls and such. You must go to a lot of stuff like that."

"I do. I hate them." He leaned back in the chair and crossed his legs.

"Shippo is an artist, did you know that? He's had a lot of gallery showings around Tokyo. He makes a good living at it." She smiled again. "He invited me to one in a few weeks, if I feel up to it."

Sesshoumaru nodded. "I know. I have a few of his originals."

Kagome's eyes widened. "You do?"

"I collect many artists. I prefer modern art." He arched an eyebrow. "I lived through history after all, and I have no wish to cling to it."

"No kidding." She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling tiles. "May I ask you something?"

"You may ask me another question, yes."

She rolled her eyes. "I hate when people say that," she muttered. Turning her head, she looked at him carefully. "What happened to Rin?"

He tensed, his one real hand tightening around the arms of the chair. It creaked underneath his grasp. His face remained blank, despite the whitening of his knuckles. "She died," he said finally. "Many, many years ago. She was fifty-seven."

"Did she ever get married? Have children?"

"She married once. I killed him for infidelity two years later. She never had children. She was barren," he said, his voice an even monotone. He remembered the little girl the day she had lost her husband. She had kicked him out of her hut. The great taiyoukai was thrown from his ward's home as her husband's blood seeped into the floorboards behind her. He had walked away as she wept. The other women in the village had come running. The men had threatened the taiyoukai with farming implements. He hadn't killed anyone else that day though.

A year after that, she had found him in the forest and apologized for getting married at all. She had promised him once, after all, that she would never leave her Sesshoumaru-sama. She started to follow him again and thirty years later, to the day, she died. She had simply never woken up from a fever and Tenseiga had been useless. The sword had given him once chance, but it wouldn't give another. He buried her in a field of flowers. Much later, he had made sure the land was put aside for a park.

If Kagome found his admission of murder appalling or his long silence uncomfortable, she said nothing. No pity, only understanding, shone in her eyes as she nodded. "What about Jaken?"

"He died during the Second World War," said the taiyoukai. "From age, not the war."

"And you?"

"I have lived to this day and I plan to live longer yet," he said.

She sighed a little. "I meant, have you ever had a mate or a wife? You don't have a ring right now."

"I have mated twice," said Sesshoumaru. He had relaxed again. His mates had been nothing. Rin had been much more than a youkai like him could describe. "The first was a political alliance who died in the seventeenth century. The second died in the Boxer Rebellion shortly after we mated. She was young and foolish and I only took her for the sake of her father, who was an old acquaintance. I did not mourn their deaths."

"Your life is full of death, isn't it?" she asked, once again lacking pity.

"So is yours." He stood up and looked out the window. The curtains were open tonight. "I must go. I have planned dinner with someone."

"A late dinner," she observed, glancing at the digital clock at her bedside.

"Yes."

"A date?"

He nodded. "I suppose humans would call it that. I think of that as a high school child's activity."

Kagome crossed her arms over her stomach. "Is she human?"

"Yes."

She arched an eyebrow. "Does she know what you are? I never thought you would date a human woman."

"There are few of my kind left. I must make allowances. Even I will not live forever and I must have a child eventually." He frowned down at her. "She does not know that I am youkai though."

Kagome reached out and touched his striped wrist. He didn't move away. "What do people think these are?"

"A rebellious past," he replied crisply.

"Do you think you'll marry this woman?"

He considered the question for a moment. "Perhaps."

Kagome nodded and settled back into her bed. "It's good. You should be happy and married. Someone deserves a good life." She closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Sesshoumaru. Have a good dinner."

He left without a word, but he returned the next night and the next and the next. For her entire eleven-day stay, every time the hospital closed its doors to visitors, he would appear at her bedside. They spoke and sometimes they didn't. Once, he brought her a book of Shippo's work. It was the same one Shippo had brought that same afternoon, but Kagome looked through it with interest anyway. It was the only time that they turned on a light.

On her eleventh night, he did not sit down. She smiled and reached out to him. "What? Is this the first night again? Sit down."

"I do not wish it."

"Do you have another date?" she asked. The bandages were off her arms and torso, although her leg was still tied up. It would take several more weeks for the muscle to repair itself, if it ever did heal properly. Physical therapy would be painful. The therapist had been in that day, bending her leg slowly until Kagome thought she would claw her own eyes out with the hurt.

He shook his head. "No. I am not dating her anymore."

"Why not?"

Sesshoumaru said nothing, walking over to the window and staring down to the streets below. Restaurants surrounded the hospital. Most of them had bars. Sesshoumaru knew not because he had been in the establishments, but he had sold them the land. Liquor licenses were important around hospitals. So many people mourning their losses, both potential and real, both their own and their loved ones' losses. He suddenly felt the need to go to one and sit down on one of the sticky plastic barstools in his five-thousand-dollar suit and drink until he was drunk. He had never been drunk before. It was nearly impossible for a taiyoukai, but he was willing to try.

"Why not?" Kagome repeated. She was sitting up straight in the bed and a pile of her clothes sat on top of the dresser for her trip home tomorrow. Sesshoumaru had never encountered her family on these nightly visits, but he could smell their scents on the clothes and in the room.

"The same reason anyone stops dating another. Because I had no wish to continue the relationship," he said, watching cars pull into a particularly popular bar's parking lot. "It was not going to end in marriage," he added, knowing that she would press further if he said nothing else.

She nodded. "You didn't like her enough?"

"I did not like her at all."

Kagome frowned, not from confusion but irritation. Sesshoumaru realized she knew his reasons for dating the woman in the first place. "You just want a kid," she said.

"Yes."

"Then why wasn't she suitable? I mean, isn't anyone with a uterus acceptable for that purpose?" she asked, her tongue laced with acid. She had relaxed around him in the last few nights.

"She was acceptable for that purpose, as you say," he said, turning his eyes away from the window. Her face was alight with color from the city. "I have decided that there are more acceptable females out there than her, however."

"Me."

Sesshoumaru nodded, pleased that he would not have to slowly build up to that. "You are over eighteen, correct?" The age of consent in many districts of Japan was only 13, but as a creature aged into the quadruple digits, he felt the need to be a bit stricter with his own standards.

"I'm twenty next week," she said, frowning. "That's not the point. What if I don't want to marry you? What if I don't want to be just some incubator for a millionaire's children?"

He arched an eyebrow. He was a billionaire, but he wouldn't correct that misconception at the moment. "Are you waiting for love?"

"Yes, of course."

The taiyoukai walked to her bedside, blocking her from the lights, so that his face was in shadow. "Listen to me, because I will never say so much on the subject. You will never love again," he said. "You loved my idiot brother with such passion that you have burnt that part of your heart to a cinder. It will never heal, just as your leg will always feel weak compared to the other. Such deep scars never recover. I will give you a good home and access to a fortune. I will keep only you in my bed and our children will have a life of privilege. And you will love them at least. But do not fool yourself into thinking that you will ever love a male – human or youkai – again."

Kagome swung her legs over the edge of the bed and leaned forward onto her knees. The hospital gown rode high up her thighs and her spine poked through the gap in the back. For a moment, he thought she was going to throw up, but only tears dripped onto the floor. "You don't know anything, especially not about me. You've only started talking to me a little more than a week ago."

He crouched down, but did not look into her eyes. "You must admit, that no one in this era knows you better than I do. Not even your little fox kit. He was a child then. I am the only one alive that saw your pain and remember it with an adult mind." He turned his head away. "I have watched you throughout your life, up until this point. I was even the one to call the ambulance when you materialized in the well house with your leg and body cut apart."

She pressed her eyes with the backs of her hands, trying to stop the tears. "You'll never love me either."

"No." He straightened up again. "But I will respect you and give you what you need. That is more than damaged souls like ours can expect. It is the best we can do."

Kagome's laugh was hollow and short. "Imagine what Inuyasha would say."

"This is my obligation. This was my promise to him."

Her head jerked up. "What? No, he wouldn't do that. He-."

Sesshoumaru sent her a sharp look, silencing her. "I would not lie. I also would not go through with it, unless it was a suitable match. It is. And so I will fulfill the promise."

"Tell me exactly what he said."

The taiyoukai took a deep breath. "He said that you did not deserve to be alone, and as much of a bastard that I was, I had helped in the final battle and I had helped you survive over the years. He said he was convinced my 'stubborn ass' would live until this day." He repeated Inuyasha's words with distaste. "He said that I would be the only one that would understand and that… that if I only knew you, I would love you. He hoped that you would get past his own death in order to love me in return." Sesshoumaru cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. "He was a fool for the last two comments and for several of the epithets he used for me. If he had not already been dying, I would have killed him for it."

Kagome sat on the edge of the bed, her palms pressed into the thin mattress, a wan smile on her face. "Inuyasha really kind of matured in his old age, didn't he?"

"As much as one such as him could."

"And you are really willing to marry me, a human?"

"Yes." He saw the flicker of disbelief on her face, the same flicker that had passed whenever he had spoken of a human in his life. "I have somewhat softened my views on the weaknesses of humanity, although those weaknesses are more prominent than ever. They are, however, less prominent within you."

Kagome was silent for a few moments. "I'll marry you," she said finally. "On one condition."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "I dislike conditions, but name it."

"Kiss me." She looked up at him and noticed his eyes widened a fraction. "You know how. Like you actually do love me." She reached up with her arms, as she was still unable to stand.

He hesitated for only a moment and then stooped down, wrapping his arms, both real and prosthetic, around her frail body. The hospital food had made her lose weight. He made a mental note about it as he lifted her into the air effortlessly, her legs hanging in air. She was suddenly very close, her arms circled around his neck and her breath on his ear.

They looked at one another and he leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. She kissed him in return with an inexperience unusual of women her age, but not altogether unpleasant. Sesshoumaru could smell her innocence. His arms tightened around her and she didn't have to hold on anymore. Her fingers brushed through his hair gently and then danced along the back of his neck and over his markings. He kissed her deeply as her fingertips found the points of his ears and slid down the length of neck to his shoulder. She felt his fangs with her tongue and smiled against his mouth.

Pulling apart, Kagome leaned forward onto his shoulder, until he set her down on the bed again. "You have do to that every night," she said, her voice dry.

He nodded. He could deal with that particular condition, especially if it eventually gave him a child.

"Then I'll marry you," she murmured. She was looking down at her hands.

He jammed his hands into his pockets. "Very well. When is your family coming tomorrow to pick you up?"

"Eleven."

He nodded again and moved towards the door. "And they know of youkai?"

"Of course. Inuyasha used to come to the house all the time." Her back was to him now and he could smell the scent of her tears again.

"I will meet you here at a quarter to eleven. We will tell your family when they get here." He frowned. "I will pay for everything."

"Don't worry about that. I don't have a lot of friends, so it won't be a big deal. I remember you hate dances and suchlike." She turned to look at him over her shoulder for a moment. Her eyes were large and brown and Sesshoumaru remembered that he had met her when she was only fifteen. He had watched her grow up at the shrine. He remembered that he had never discovered how to forestall Rin's aging. He wondered if he would have to watch Kagome go through the same and decided to send Jaken's replacement to the library the next morning to look in the old scrolls.

"Good," he replied simply, opening the door.

"Sesshoumaru?"

"Yes?"

Kagome rubbed her hands together, as she was suddenly cold. "I hope you're wrong. And I hope Inuyasha was right."

The taiyoukai nodded. "Goodnight, Kagome."

"Goodnight."

He closed the door behind him and stood in the hallway, listening to Kagome sniffling inside the room for several minutes. He stayed until she fell asleep.

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A/N: I tried to end on the happiest note I could, given Kagome's horrible situation. If you'd like, you can imagine that Inuyasha was right and they end up deeply in love and Sesshoumaru finds a way to keep her with him forever. That's the way I'll think about it! Haha. Anyway, please review and stick around! More one-shots are on the way!


	2. Peter Pan Syndrome

Pairing: None between those that actually appear

Rating: G

Genre: General

Words: 250 exactly!

Peter Pan Syndrome

She had three and was pregnant with the fourth before he came to see her. She rose from her place by the fire, smiled and bowed. "Lord Sesshoumaru!"

The children – two girls and the youngest, a baby boy – turned to look at the demon they had already heard so much about. She crossed the room to them and tapped them on their heads gently as she spoke. "This is Shiori and Sango," she said. "And this is Sesshoumaru."

He arched an eyebrow at his namesake, who was blowing spit bubbles as his mother gazed fondly on him. Still, even if the child was human, it was a show of the continued respect she had for him after all these years. They could have easily named the boy after his father, the taijiya's little brother. He looked at the boy carefully. "They are strong children," he said finally.

She beamed at him and invited him to take tea. He shook his head. He had only come to satisfy his curiosity that she was doing well.

"Very well," she said, rubbing her swollen belly.

The eldest child, Shiori, tugged at his empty sleeve before Rin could stop her. "Mama tells us all about you, Lord Sesshoumaru," she said, her smile showing the gap in her teeth that her mother had when Sesshoumaru had first met her. "Will you take me on your adventures?"

"Shiori…"

"If you wish," he said, cutting Rin off. They both looked up at her.

Rin smiled.


	3. Unseen

A/N: My very first post for an LJ community. :) Who would have thought it would be anything but sweet?

This was first posted to the Dokuga LJ community on December 19, 2008 for the prompt "Drop". 100 words. No more. No less.

**Title:** Unseen  
**Author: **ReplicantAngel (aka RosieB)  
**Theme:** Drop  
**Genre:** Romance(ish)/Dark(ish)  
**Rating:** T  
**Word Count:** 100

**Summary: **Sesshoumaru isn't entirely tame. (Two uses of 'drop' if you squint real hard for the second.)

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She yanked on his arm and stared up at him. "Please, don't!"

"He tried to kill you." The words were measured with his anger, all of which was directed towards the man cowering before him - the thief, the _scum_, that had squeezed three drops of blood from her precious neck before he got there. The scarlet beads still adorned her throat like venomous jewels.

"I know." She never wanted to see him as an executioner.

Very well, he thought, as he allowed her to lead him back home. When he hunted the thief down later, she would not be watching.


	4. Her Treat

**Title:** Her Treat  
**Pairing:** Sess/Kag, but not really, lol  
**Rating:** G  
**Word Count:** 100 exactly  
**Warnings:** None, except for bad puns :)

A/N: For forthright's "Perfect Come-On" Challenge on LJ.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! :D

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Everyone clustered around the snacks that Kagome had brought back from her time, 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the treats that had come from faraway lands. Only Sesshoumaru stood apart, sitting at the other end of the hut.

Kagome approached him with her hands full of goodies. "Wouldn't you like to try one of them, Lord Sesshoumaru? This box has slices of a fruit called mango, and this is..."

The taiyoukai held up his hand. "I only desire a date from you." He reached for the container, ignoring her shocked look.

He didn't understand why she spent the next hour giggling.


	5. Für Gin

For see03, who caught the 10k kiriban on dA. My only limit on what I'd write was that it would be a thousand words (it actually came to 1183 words) - anything thing else, I would do. I did, apparently, put the idea of a 'tutu' into her mind though. ;D

"Für Elise" means "For Elise". Gin is a name that means "silver" - always appropriate for this family, I thought.

Hope it pleases!

Für Gin

"Daddy?"

Sesshoumaru looked up from the plans for the new, downtown high-rise his architecture firm was building. The final blueprint was due in two days, and Kagome had gone to lunch without taking their daughter with her. "Yes, Gin?"

The five-year-old fumbled with her tiara as it slid backwards. "It won't stay!" she pouted.

"Wait for your mother to come back. She will pin it properly."

"No. I hafta practice!"

He turned in his chair. "Your recital is several weeks away. You will do admirably. And if you must practice, you don't need that on top of your head to do so."

Gin blinked at him. "But I want to wear it. Miss Kamiko says we need to get used to wearing it."

Sesshoumaru glanced at his work once more with a sigh. "Do you have hairpins?" he asked, holding out his hand.

His daughter rewarded him with a brilliant smile that reminded him of her mother. Handing him the pins, she turned around and let her father fix the tiara to her thick, black hair. She tapped her ballet slippers against the hardwood floor and wiggled as he worked, but he remained silent - he had learned infinite patience when it came to his own flesh and blood. "Want to see my dance?" she asked as he managed to slide the final pin in.

He hesitated only a moment. "Very well."

Gin bounced to the center of his study. "Watch, Daddy," she warned, shaking her finger at him as his eyes drifted back to the blueprints.

"I am your captive audience," he replied. "Please, begin."

Without music - the rather trite choice of Beethoven's "Für Elise", if he remembered correctly - his daughter began a slow series of _grand pliés_ and stilted kicks across the length of the room. When she came to the turn at the edge of the rug, she stumbled. "Oh!"

"Are you alright?" Sesshoumaru asked, starting to stand.

"Yes, Daddy," she replied, straightening herself with a frown.

"I believe you tripped on the carpet. Try again, away from the edge."

Gin's frown deepened into a sulk. "No. I do that in class too," she murmured.

Sesshoumaru was experienced enough at this point in parenthood to recognize the signs of an approaching crying fit. He stood and walked over to his daughter. "Do you remember what I did before I met your mother?"

"Mommy says that you taught people how to fight," she replied, momentarily distracted from her possible tantrum.

He nodded. "Kendo. It requires balance and precision. It is not unlike ballet."

Gin worried at her lower lip. "You'll help me, Daddy?"

"Of course," he replied. "Do it again. I believe you are not distributing your weight correctly. It throws you off-balance."

"Okay," she said, although she looked a bit confused. She readied herself again. Her arms swung out haphazardly as she turned on the ball of her foot, and the leg that lifted into the air twisted around her ankle.

Sesshoumaru caught her as she stumbled again, and he spoke quickly to head off any possible cry of frustration. "You are letting your leg drag too much. It must be carried along with the rest of you." He straightened her tiara once more. "It is a simple matter to correct," he added.

She still looked confused, however. He tried again. "Pretend there is a piece of wire attached to your hip and running down your leg," he said, pointing at his own joints to demonstrate. "Concentrate on keeping that piece of wire as straight as possible. Do not let your leg twist behind you and break the wire."

Gin dutifully followed her father's instructions, but what had been sloppy became stiff and robotic. "It's not right!" she cried before her father could open his mouth.

"No, it is not," he agreed. He didn't believe in lying to children to spare their feelings. The desperate expression on his daughter's face, however, spurred him to try yet again. "I will show you. Watch carefully."

Gin's eyes went wide, but she nodded and stepped back. Sesshoumaru spread his arms and pointed one foot out to his right. Rising onto the ball of his foot, he turned in a neat oval, closing and widening his arms perfectly in time with his feet. Turning three times took him half-way across the room, and he stopped as gracefully as he had begun. "Do you see?" he asked, casting a surreptitious glance at the door and hoping his wife wasn't standing there. She wasn't.

"No," Gin admitted, shaking her head. Her tiara was coming loose again. "I can't see. Miss Kamiko says it's important to see our feet. That's why we wear tights."

Sesshoumaru looked down at the loose fit jeans Kagome had bought him a couple months ago. "What, exactly, am I supposed to do about that?" he asked warily.

888888888888888888888888888888888

Kagome pushed the door closed with her foot and tossed her purse on the chair before depositing the box of leftovers in the fridge. There was a box of crayons and several sheets of construction paper still strewn across the kitchen table, but the portrait of the family that Gin had been drawing earlier when Kagome had left had not progressed any further. She turned down the hall towards Sesshoumaru's study, hoping that their daughter was not pestering him. She knew he had a deadline, but getting out of lunch dates with Eri, Yuka and Ayumi was about as difficult as maintaining peace in the Middle East.

The melody of "Für Elise" floated out from the study, and Kagome frowned. "Gin, are you bothering," she began, opening the door.

She stopped cold, and so did he. "Sess?" she finally managed to squeak. "What are you _wearing_?"

Gin sat next to his drafting table, swinging her legs. "Hi, Mommy!"

Sesshoumaru cleared his throat as he snatched the tiara from his head. "Kagome. You're home."

Her eyes swept over him. "Is that my costume for the Mommy-and-Daughter dance?" she asked, gesturing to his pale pink leotard and tights. "The tutu is an _interesting_ addition. Isn't that the one my mother gave to Gin for her birthday?"

"Daddy was showing me how to do the turns for my dance!" Gin said.

Kagome felt hysterical amusement bubbling up within her, but she managed to keep it inside until Sesshoumaru turned to shut off the music. His behind - the source of constant admiration stretching back to his kendo days - was framed by the fringes of the tutu that didn't _quite_ wrap around his entire waist. Sesshoumaru glared at her when she began to giggle into her hands. "I was attempting to help," he muttered, untying the ribbon of the tulle skirt with a jerk of his arm.

"Oh, I know," she said between breaths of laughter. She tried to smother her amusement, finally managing to smirk from behind her fingers. "You're a good father."

"Hn."

Her grin broadened. "But, you know, it doesn't quite fit you across the shoulders."

He paled and pulled at the leg opening of the leotard. "That's not the only place."

Kagome collapsed on the ground in peals of laughter.


	6. Steak Tartare

**Title:** Steak Tartare  
**Author:** RosieB/ReplicantAngel  
**Prompt:** Dokuga_contest's (LJ comm) Anniversary Challenge - Paper  
**Genre:** Humor, I hope :P  
**Rating:** G  
**Warnings:** Slight crack, as Kagome clearly had to have had several Red Bulls to act this way.  
**Word Count:** 777  
**Summary:** Kagome is taken by surprise in the most unlikely of places.

Completely silly idea I had years ago and even typed out (although that one only came to about 300 words) - then, I had a hard drive failure before I could post it. This is a reworking from the bits I remember. And yeah, I know I'm not a comedian. I promise not to try again. :P

Originally posted on October 15, 2009.

----------------------------------

**Steak Tartare**

"I don't believe it!"

He gave her a bored glance. "Excuse me?"

She fluttered her hands in front of her. "I don't believe it!" she said again. "Five years and you turn up in the soup and spices aisle at my local grocery store. I guess it's been five _hundred_ years for you though. What are the odds?"

The silver-haired man kept his eyes on the cans on the shelf. "Hn," he replied. He raised an eyebrow when she planted herself in front of him. "Leave me be."

"Come on, Sesshoumaru!" She beamed up at him. "Aren't you the least bit interested in how I'm here? Five centuries after you saw me last?"

He reached around her, blindly picking up a can of tomato basil. "I am only interested in finishing my shopping. Remove yourself from my presence. From this store, preferably."

Her eyes widened. "Oh! You've gotten better at lying, because I know you _are_ interested." She lifted a hand, pointing towards his perfectly human-like cheeks. "Speaking of which, how did you manage to hide your markings? A spell? I can't imagine you'd be wearing make-up. _Although_, you always did have this sort of quality that was almost fem-..."

"I advise not completing that sentence," he growled with a flash of golden eyes.

"Oh. Right."

He stared at her as she persisted in not moving. "You're still here."

She nodded vigorously. "I can't just _leave_ you here, alone."

"I beg to differ."

"Well, you can try, but I'm staying." They looked at one another for a moment that stretched beyond a reasonable length of awkward silence before her gaze fell upon the meager offerings of his cart. "So... five boxes of instant rice and blue sports drinks? That's it? I expected more steak or something. At least there aren't any pork rinds, I guess."

He took a breath. "For the last time, remove yourself from my presence," he said again, "or I will remove your head from your shoulders, as I should have done years ago."

"Ha! You _do_ remember me!" She grinned, and he glared, looking more angry with himself than with her. She took a deep, calming breath. "Alright. How about this? You come home with me, and I'll cook dinner. We can catch up."

He dumped two cans of soup into his cart, partially crushing one of his boxes of rice. "I'm leaving," he said flatly, "and never returning to this store."

"I'll follow you home," she said with a wink. She gestured to her own cart, which was overflowing with fresh greens and meat wrapped in crisp butcher paper. "I'm a chef now. I couldn't get into a proper university with all the bad grades I got those years I spent in the Feudal Era, so I went to culinary school instead. But I'm pretty good at it. Trust me."

"I am leaving the _country_."

She put a hand on his cart, weaving her fingers through the metal bars. "I have steak. I can cook it rare as you'd like," she said with a knowing smile. "When's the last time someone cooked for you? I don't know how it's possible, but you actually look _thinner_ these days."

He hesitated, seeming to consider it. "Kagome," he said slowly, as if testing out the way the name rolled off his tongue.

The young woman smiled. "That's me! I'm flattered that you remember, Sesshoumaru."

"I remember the green skirt," he murmured.

Her cheeks flushed pink. "It's much less revealing than what girls wear these days," she said. She arched an eyebrow in a good impression of the taiyoukai standing in front of her. "You know what though? I'll let the Miroku-like comment slide if you agree to that dinner."

He scoffed. "I have nothing in common with the monk. I merely thought you looked like a..."

"Now _you're _the one that should be watching his mouth," she warned, wagging a finger at him. "And I definitely deserve an evening of your time for that one!"

He studied her for a long moment. "How rare of a steak?"

"Practically mooing," she replied happily. She swept one arm towards the cash registers. "After you. I have to keep you in sight, after all," she added.

He eyed her as he moved past her. "I keep my word," he said.

She followed him with a smile, digging out her shopping list and a pencil. _One package of capers? Check. One bottle of Worcestershire sauce? Check. One dozen eggs? Check._

She looked up at the mane of silver hair in front of her cart and carefully added another line to the bottom of the paper, giggling under her breath. _One gorgeous taiyoukai? Check!_


	7. A Well's Interlude

A/N: I wrote this a short time ago for a oneshot competition on deviantArt. There was no theme, and I didn't know if the judges would be familiar with the IY fandom at all, so I wrote a canon, Inu/Kag fic. *gasp* (No, this is not my new, canon-pairing story, lol.) This story does take place between chapters 557 and 558 (i.e. the last one) of the manga, so this is a bit SPOILERISH. And before you ask, no, I didn't win the competition. LoL.

Anyway, I hope this will tide you over until I have the next BYIT chapter out. Probably not, but know that I'm working on it. Promise. :)

**A Well's Interlude**

He could see Sango from his perch in the tree - she was a bright splash of red in her wedding kimono against the muted background of villagers that had surrounded her to bestow their congratulations. He wished that her groom, in his blue and purple robes, was standing at _her_ side. "Come to nag at me again?"

"I just hope you aren't sulking on my wedding day."

Inuyasha glanced down to the see the monk with his arms crossed and his eyes fixed on his new bride. "I don't sulk," the half-demon muttered.

Miroku wagged his finger. "You do. You've been sulking for three months," he replied, finally looking up at his sullen companion. "Come on, Inuyasha. I can't enjoy my wedding if my friends aren't there to share it with me."

"Keh." Inuyasha dropped down to the ground and glared at the other man. "Then, you shouldn't be enjoying it anyway, because all of your friends _aren't_ here."

"I meant the friends that are able to be with us," Miroku said, his eyes softening. "The day is darker without her here, Inuyasha, but..."

"If you tell me to move on without her," interrupted the half-demon, "I'll punch you in the face, wedding day or not."

Miroku shook his head. "I would never suggest such a thing," he said. "But Kagome wouldn't want you to make yourself miserable when we have every reason to celebrate. Naraku is dead. The Jewel of Four Souls is gone. There's a wedding going on - _my _wedding, let me remind you. And you can't forget that Kagome is safe in her time with people that love her."

"Yeah, I know that," grumbled Inuyasha.

He leaned in with a conspiratorial wink. "Not to mention, Sango just let me touch her beautiful backside without so much as a word, much less a slap. And you missed it, Inuyasha!" said the monk, lifting a hand to his chest in mock injury.

The half-demon scoffed. "Well, I guess even you can get away with it today," he said. "But if you try it on any other girls, I'll help Sango knock you into next week."

"Point taken," Miroku replied, still standing with his hand over his heart.

They stood in silence for a few minutes, watching the villagers enjoy the feast and cluster around the bride. Sango glowed with joy, and they could hear her laughter rise above everyone else. "Kagome should be here for this," the monk agreed belatedly. "I don't think Sango would have survived without her help, and I will always be thankful to her for that. It isn't fair that she should miss Sango being so happy as this."

Inuyasha turned his eyes away. "She'd be happier if you were down there, you idiot."

Miroku gave him an understanding smile and took a few steps down the slope. "I would hope so. I suppose that I should go and welcome Rin, anyway. You should, too."

The half-demon's head jerked up to look back at the crowd. A small dash of orange stood beside Sango, and Inuyasha recognized his older brother's human ward. "What's she doing here?" he demanded.

"Attending the wedding?" suggested Miroku, looking back at him with a raised brow.

"What's she doing in the village _at all_?" growled Inuyasha. He sniffed the air around them and discovered traces of Sesshoumaru's scent - he wouldn't have even noticed if the monk hadn't mentioned it. How the hell had that happened? "Why isn't she with that bastard?"

"I guess he decided to bring her earlier than anticipated."

"For _what_?"

"Really, Inuyasha," sighed the monk, turning towards him again. "You should listen more carefully. We've been talking about it for ages. Kaede told us weeks ago that Sesshoumaru arranged this. Apparently, he thinks that Rin should spend some time with her own kind. She's been traveling with your brother for a long time, and her education is lacking. Kaede has agreed to take her in and teach her how to sew and to plant and to treat injuries with herbs. I would imagine that Rin requested that she could attend the wedding, and he agreed. He usually does, when it comes to her."

"You mean, he's just _left_ her here?"

Miroku blinked. "She'll be staying for awhile, of course." He reached out as Inuyasha swiveled around and began to run into the forest. "Wait, Inuyasha! Where are you going?" he called after him.

The half-demon ignored the monk's plea and dove into the underbrush, seeking out the fresh scent of his brother. It hadn't been concealed - another embarrassment as the protector of the village. Half-brother or not, Sesshoumaru could still pose a threat to anyone that crossed him. Inuyasha followed his path in a wide arc through the forest to the south of the village. "Hey!" he snarled as soon as he spotted the white silk of the demon lord's kimono. "Come back here, you jackass!"

Sesshoumaru paused, glancing over his shoulder as his half-brother bore down on him. He didn't draw his sword, but his servant thrust his staff under Inuyasha's nose as he approached. "How dare you!" squawked Jaken. "Lord Sesshoumaru is a magni-..."

"Jaken," cut in the demon lord, "be quiet." He blinked lazily at the half-demon that was snarling two inches from his own armored chest. "Is there something you need, little brother?"

His brother had only three emotions - indifferent, annoyed and homicidal - but the appearance of the least threatening of these only served to stoke Inuyasha's anger further. "Take back the girl! You can't leave her here!"

A white eyebrow arched. "I do not see what concern it is of yours," he replied. "I have made arrangements with the old priestess."

"No," snapped Inuyasha. "I won't let you abandon her."

"I am also compensating the crone for her instruction and trouble," said Sesshoumaru. His golden eyes narrowed a fraction. "Although, that is _still_ not any business of yours."

The half-demon lifted a hand, poking his sibling in the chest with a clawed finger and drawing another sputter from an aghast Jaken. "That's not what I meant, and you know it. For some damn reason, that kid actually likes you. And since you haven't gutted her, I'm guessing you care about her more than you let on, even if she is human. So just admit it and keep her with you, you coward! Don't push her off on us, just because you can't deal with that!"

The ground began to rumble with the elder brother's deep growl. "This Sesshoumaru is no coward," he hissed.

"Then, take her back!"

"I will not," returned the dog demon. "Rin must rejoin her kind."

Inuyasha balled his hands into fists, ready to strike. "She doesn't _want_ to!"

Sesshoumaru raised his chin. "That is irrelevant," he replied. "A choice is no choice at all unless all options are explored."

The half-demon drew back a few inches at that, all preconceptions wavering in his mind. "What do you mean by that?"

The demon lord took a deep, silent breath, his brows knitting together for a moment. At last, he said, "If Rin must choose between a life with humans and a life with demons, she must experience both. It is time for her to return to her own kind. She has spent enough time with me."

"But she wants to be with you. How could you just give her up like that? She's here. Now!" insisted Inuyasha. "Anything could happen! You could never see her again, and then, what would you do?"

Sesshoumaru looked away. "I suppose I must trust in you and your friends' abilities to make certain that she is safe until I return," he murmured. "It is out of my control, now."

"So, you're leaving it up to what? Fate?" asked the half-demon, his eyes widening with incredulity.

"Fate," agreed Sesshoumaru, "and Rin. When and if she decides to return to me, I will be certain of her choice. It is how things must go."

A dozen other possibilities popped into his mind - after a moment, however, the images of Kohaku holding Rin faded into one of Hojo embracing Kagome. She was smiling in his mind's eye - happy in another man's arms. Part of him raged against it, but another piece of him whispered that she was, at least, happy. Still, it rankled. "What if..."

Golden eyes sparked again. "Accept that it is not up to you, little brother," Sesshoumaru intoned, moving away once more.

Inuyasha's ears twitched. "Hey!" he called again, just as his brother began to disappear into the foliage. "You're going to visit her at least, aren't you?"

Sesshoumaru shot him a cool glance over his shoulder and then, gave a single nod of his head.

His shoulders finally slackened. "Keh. Maybe you aren't as much of a jerk as I thought," he muttered. "_Maybe_!" he added for his brother's benefit before pivoting on his heel and going back the way he came at a easier pace.

It only took a few minutes to find Miroku still waiting at the edge of the forest. "Thank goodness," he breathed. "I wasn't sure if I should follow you, but Sango would kill me for getting into a fight today. She'd kill you, too."

"We didn't fight," said Inuyasha, walking past him and towards the village. "Are you coming back to the party or what, idiot?"

"You're going to the feast?" asked Miroku, wide-eyed.

"Don't you want me there?" countered the half-demon.

The monk fell into step beside him. "Of course, but, ah, could you explain to me what just happened? I've been trying to cheer you up for months, and a few minutes with your brother of all people has you looking _lighter_, somehow."

Inuyasha scowled. "Am not." He shifted uneasily under Miroku's stare. "What?" he bit out. "Maybe you're not entirely stupid, alright? Maybe it's okay if I have some fun while Kagome's away. She'd 'sit' me forever if I didn't go to your wedding feast, anyway."

A slow smile spread across Miroku's face. "While she's 'away'?" he echoed. "Kagome's coming back?"

"She promised she wouldn't leave me," Inuyasha murmured. "Of course, she's coming back."

The monk gave a vigorous nod. "Of course," he repeated. "You're right, Inuyasha."

"I always am," he muttered back.

Miroku hummed his agreement with a grin, and Inuyasha tucked his hands into his sleeves, telling himself that he was certain. She could come back and walk down the hill with that enormous, yellow backpack any day now. He didn't need to worry about it. She just needed some time. Not to make her choice - the choice was clear - but to say goodbye. To grow up a bit. To rest.

He glanced up at the hill where the Bone-Eater's Well sat. Maybe he would check it every once in awhile. Just in case. Just so she would know he'd made his choice, too.


	8. Gifts of Silver

A/N: This was written for Dokuga's fic exchange on LJ's dokuga_exchange comm, run by MomoDesu. I drew SunsetMiko first. What do you get when you give an author that does mainly angsty, chaptered fics the assignment of writing for an author who writes happy, lemon fics, a deadline, and a hope for the angsty author that she can write someone sufficiently light and joyful? Um, this. :P Let's just say that I've been watching a lot of British television again - my writing always gets odd when I do that.

I hope SunsetMiko enjoys it anyway. ;) And Merry Christmas to everyone!

**Gifts of Silver**

She stepped out onto the busy sidewalk just as the thousands of Christmas lights flickered to life, washing the street in their warm, white glow. The cheerful notes of a carol floated from the door of the next shop as its door opened and closed, but the frigid wind was already finding the gaps in her clothing and sliding down the back of her neck, and she fumbled with her list for a moment. She only had one more gift to buy, and Kagome decided to brave the twilight chill for a few more moments to find the new calligraphy brushes for her grandfather.

Wandering down the length of the street, she shifted her purchases from hand to hand and studied the storefronts. _Clothing, clothing, toy shop, clothing, music store, techno-gadgets_, she read silently. _Nope. None of these are what I need._

Just as she was about to resign herself to another shopping trip on another day, three girls passed her by, chattering animatedly and holding eggshell colored bags emblazoned with the words, 'The Paper Mulberry'. "Excuse me?" she called. "Is there a stationery store nearby?"

The three girls collapsed into a fit of giggles. "Uh huh," said the one on the left with a nod.

"Did you know the paper mulberry is used to make paper?" said the one in the middle, her eyes going starry.

Kagome blinked. "Erm, yes, I did. Is it up here on the left, maybe?" she asked, pointing across the street.

"Around the corner," spoke up the first one again, sighing.

"Thank you," returned Kagome, her words drowned out by another burst of laughter as the third girl whispered something to her friends.

Only the resolve to finish her shopping pushed her towards the store that could put the three young women into such a state. And, once she spotted it tucked between yet another clothing store and a camera shop, Kagome found it quite charming with its window displaying a wide variety of paper and inks in Christmas colors - the sort of place she would happily duck into on one of her rare, free afternoons. A lit wreath's bells jingled as she went inside.

It was empty, save for a short, bald man sweeping up behind the counter. "Can I help you?" he said, sounding tired but not entirely unkind.

"Calligraphy brushes?" she asked over her shoulder as she stared at the rolls of paper that stretched to the ceiling. Brocade and damask patterns, as well as solid and shimmering leafs of thin paper rustled at her, and she immediately promised herself that she would return as soon as possible. The entire place smelled of black ink and wood pulp, like a book freshly printed.

"Right over here," said the clerk, tapping the equally impressive display shelf next to the cash register. He looked up at her as she came closer and his broom stopped moving. "A-ah, I'm sorry. Have you been here before?"

Kagome shook her head, trying not to stare at the man's bulging eyes. He certainly wasn't what had sent those girls into a tizzy. "Not that I remember."

"Ah. Well." He set the broom aside and fidgeted for a moment. "Our paper is two sheets for the price of one right now."

She cast an eye over the store, filled to the brim with different kinds of paper - from common card stock to the finest _washi _for print-making. "All of it?"

He stilled. "Ah! No. Just the origami paper. Sorry." He gave her a guilty smile and edged past her. "Did you need help selecting a calligraphy brush?"

"Maybe. It's for my grandfather and..."

"I'll get someone else to help you," he suggested quickly. "The owner. He'll make sure you get the best brush suited for your needs. His specialty."

"I suppose that'd be alright," agreed Kagome, but the little man had already zipped away into the back of the store. _What an strange person_, she mused, turning back to the selection. She was willing to wait a few minutes, but the sky was turning that steely blue color of a winter night, reminding her how late it was becoming. She had work in the morning - the hospital always turned a bit nuts around Christmas and the New Year, and she really needed to wrap her purchases before going to sleep.

She reached out for a smooth, white-haired brush when a voice at her elbow said, "I would suggest one that isn't made of synthetic hair." An arm crossed into her vision and tapped a brush on the shelf above her own choice.

Kagome clutched at her chest. "You scared me!" she chided gently, turning to look at the newcomer.

And promptly dropped her bags.

"I apologize," said the tall man, looking down at her things. "And I'm afraid that I heard something break."

"Huh?" She forced her eyes away from the shop owner, realizing she had heard a tinkle of broken glass as well. She crouched over the largest of her bags and pulled out a slim box with a cellophane top. "Oh! It was one of my Christmas ornaments," she said, tapping the compartment that now held a shattered golden orb.

"Allow me to repay you for its loss."

Kagome glanced up again into the face that had taken her by such surprise. It was not so familiar as she had believed in her first glimpse - black hair that fell past his waist and pale brown eyes that seemed almost golden were understandably startling, but it wasn't him. She tucked the box of ornaments back into her bag. "It's alright. It was just a cheap bit of nothing. There's a Christmas tree where I work, and I got suckered into getting some ornaments for it. Actually, we were supposed to bring a couple ornaments from home, but I couldn't bear it if anything happened to those. So, I picked these up."

_Get a grip_, she scolded herself as the shopkeeper waited patiently for her to finish. _He doesn't care about your life story._ Aloud, she said, "Erm. Sorry. Don't worry about it, is what I meant."

He held out a hand - similar to the elegant hands she remembered, but blunted with human nails - and helped her straighten up once more. "Well, as I was saying before I carelessly startled you, I would always suggest genuine animal hair as opposed to the synthetic. Serious calligraphers are split on the matter, but I prefer them myself. Most purists do."

"That definitely includes my grandfather," she said, blushing as she realized her hand still rested in his. Pulling away again, she reflected that this man was most certainly the cause for the girls' fits of giggles. She preferred snow-white hair and truly golden eyes, but the shopkeeper was gorgeous in his own right. If Inuyasha had had a fully human brother, this was what he would look like. "So, um, white or brown?"

The owner gave her the smallest of smiles. "The white hair is goat's hair. The brown is wolf's hair. We have mixes, as well."

"Wolf?" echoed Kagome.

"Not actually made of wolf hair anymore," he assured her. "Rabbit or horse, usually."

A little more deliberation had secured three brown-haired brushes of the second finest quality the shop carried, and the owner brought them over to the register with reverence. "Have you been doing this for long?" she couldn't help but ask as she pulled out her credit card. "I mean, I've never seen this shop before."

"We just moved to this more suitable location," he answered, wrapping her purchase. "I have been a calligrapher for a very, very long time, but opening a store was a more recent idea. It's been about ten years."

"Not really recent," she observed.

He nodded. "I suppose not." He reached behind him and plucked a couple items off of the shelf. "And to repay you for your lost ornament," he added, "which would you prefer?"

Kagome bent forward to see two metal ornaments in his hand, folded as if they were made of origami paper. "Oh, I couldn't," she said, coloring again. "They're worth so much more than the one little, glass thing."

"I insist," he countered smoothly. "The golden crane? Or the silver dog?"

An easy choice - she tapped the silver dog without a moment's hesitation, and he wrapped it before she could protest again. She found it difficult to speak up once more, whether it was because he rang up her purchase so fast or because of another customer walking in, garnering his momentary attention. "Well, thank you for the help," she said when he handed the bag over to her. "And for your generosity. It really was too much."

"Come and visit us again," he said, sliding the receipt towards her, "and it will be well worth any cost."

She hovered for a moment, and his intense gaze was intense enough to remind her of the dog demon she had once known. She knew she wouldn't return to the shop - despite its magnificent selection - if he reminded her of days lost, but she had to find out his name. "Thank you," she said again, "Mr...?"

"Takeshi Oshiro," he replied.

She smiled. "Kagome Higurashi," she said. "It was nice to meet you."

He bowed his head, not moving his eyes from hers. But the tightness forming in her chest shattered when the other customer approached the counter. She tore her gaze away before he could and moved towards the door, reminding herself of the promise to never come back to this place again.

She stepped outside again, pulling her coat closer to her throat as the warmth of the shop faded from her body. "I really wish it had been you, Sesshoumaru," she whispered before setting off towards the train that would take her home.

* * *

"It's a lovely ornament," agreed Mrs. Higurashi, handing Kagome a cup of hot cocoa.

Standing back to admire the tree, Kagome nodded. Most of the items hanging on the little tree in the corner of the living room were handmade or plastic - there were several dating from the one Christmas spent with Inuyasha, which had ended with glitter everywhere and glue in all the wrong places. The silver, origami dog sat at the top of the tree, next to the cardboard snowflake she had covered with stickers when she was five. "He was a very nice man," admitted Kagome, reaching out to touch the metal once more.

Sota tumbled through the door, his cheeks red from the exertion of shoveling the front courtyard.

"Hey, Mom. There's a guy here that says he wants to give a Christmas donation for the shrine to Grandpa. Where is he?"

"Working with those beautiful brushes that Kagome gave to him this morning," said Mrs. Higurashi. "Can you invite him inside? You know how slow Grandpa is getting out the door in this cold."

Sota shrugged. "Maybe Sis can go. I think he just wants to give it to a priest or priestess of the shrine. Better that he gets one whose spells actually work, right?"

"Hush, Sota!" laughed their mother, before turning to Kagome. "Would you mind, dear?"

She was already putting her drink aside. "No problem," she said, heading towards the door and slipping into her coat and shoes.

The sun was just setting, casting the grounds in a pale orange, including the figure of a man sitting beneath the God Tree. The same familiarity that had struck her two weeks previous returned in full force, and she knew. "It _is_ you," Kagome said from her front porch, knowing that he would hear. She almost wept with joy. "Sesshoumaru."

He turned his face towards her and stood, waiting for her to cross the snowy courtyard. His hair was still black, but in the light of the approaching dusk, his eyes glittered gold again. "You said nothing in the shop. I did not think you recognized me," he said. "I was willing to let you believe in the coincidence."

"Then, why are you here?" she asked. "I might have forgotten about it. Eventually."

"But I would not," he replied. "And I decided the inevitable questions would be worth satisfying my own curiosity."

"Inevitable questions," Kagome echoed. "Like, what happened to my friends? How many children did Sango and Miroku have? Did anyone else survive? Besides Jaken, of course. Questions like that?"

"Such as that," Sesshoumaru affirmed. "Although I thought Jaken's disguise quite adequate for these times."

"And yours, too," she agreed, "but once I knew you, it was kind of obvious."

They looked at each other for a long moment, and she shook her head. "I'm not going to ask. It's Christmas, and I know most of the answers already, don't I?"

He nodded. "I would think so."

She sat down on the cold, stone bench under the bare boughs of the Goshinboku. "So, no point in making myself sad," she said with a shrug. "Why were you curious about me?"

"I wanted to see who the girl that defeats Naraku at fifteen becomes when she grows up," he said, taking a place beside her.

"You mean, after my peak in my mid-teens?" she asked. Such a thought had been depressing once upon a time, but the living, breathing dog demon beside her made it impossible to think of anything other than Christmas miracles.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "I did not say that. You are young and do not have to fear uselessness yet." He paused and gave her a look that was not entirely serious. "Whereas I own a paper shop and teach kendo at the dojo down the street from my modest apartment that is half the size of most of the peasants' huts in the old days."

"Mine's a quarter of the size," she countered with a quirk of her lips.

"I once defeated armies single-handedly - quite literally - and I now must make polite excuses when a single female customer tries to crowd me into a corner."

Kagome giggled at that, warmth filling her chest as she realized just what he was doing. "I have old men pinching my butt just hours after getting heart surgery."

"I believe that would speak to your hospital's excellent record," he murmured, giving her a sideways glance. "Very well. My only companion is an imp that chooses to look like a short, balding man. And yet, I have allowed him to accompany me for five hundred years."

"Cat," Kagome replied, pointing to herself and grinning.

"Hn. I must admit that mine can speak. I am uncertain if that counts in my favor or not."

She bumped his shoulder with her own, taking only a moment to revel in their immediate companionship, as if they had both been marooned without human contact for years. "I guess we both have pretty sad lives these days."

He shook his head. "No. We live decent lives. Good lives, compared to most. They are only sad when we wish for the past." He shrugged. "There are things - and people - I would give much to see again, but there are others that I would not trade away now."

Interested, she looked back at him. "Such as?"

"I am a great fan of indoor plumbing," he said, arching a brow as she collapsed against his shoulder and laughed. "And microwaves."

The priestess sat up again, still chuckling. "You've gotten a sense of humor. I kind of like it. You seem more..."

"Human?" he offered, and she nodded. "It is the price of living with them for a few centuries. There is a certain freedom when you are not carrying the Western Lands on your back." Sesshoumaru studied her. "But you are not as happy as you once were, which I do not care for. I would imagine it is a weight you should not be carrying."

"Well, a good Christmas present seems to be making things a lot lighter all of a sudden," Kagome said. She rubbed her hands together. "Lighter, but not warmer. Come on. My mom's probably about to start on dessert. You'll join us?" She stood and reached out for him.

He nodded and took her hand. "I will."

She took a few steps and stopped, glancing back at the taiyoukai. "Could they meet you? The real you? Not Takeshi Oshiro? My grandfather's sutras don't work, by the way."

"It is a simple matter, if you so desire," he agreed. His form shimmered for a moment, and she faced the great taiyoukai of the Western Lands once again. The golden hair and silver hair had returned to the shrine, and suddenly, her heart felt as if it would burst with how _right_ it all felt.

"You don't look so scary in jeans and a wool coat. Maybe my grandfather won't try to slap sutras on you," Kagome said, plucking happily at his sleeve with her free hand. He shrugged, just as unworried about holy attacks as she was, and she continued, "One more thing?"

He paused and gave her a patient look. "Yes?"

"Mistletoe," she said, pointing upwards. "I think I want to kiss you."

"For what?"

She blushed. "I don't know. For making me feel like there's someone in the world that knows me again."

Sesshoumaru gave a sage nod and glanced up at the white sky. "But there is no mistletoe."

"It's Christmas. Pretend. Besides, I haven't had somebody to kiss for a long time. Have you?" She was already wrapping her arms around his shoulders. A thrill went through her frame as his hands fell to her hips. Maybe he understood even more than she could know.

"One more reason our lives are sad," he murmured as she stretched up to press her lips against his.

He was warm and soft, and he let her tug his silver strands through her fingers as they kissed. "We have decent lives," she said, echoing his own, earlier sentiments as she pulled away. "Good lives, if we work at it. I think that'll be my resolution for the New Year. What's yours?"

"I need improvement in some way?" he asked, lowering his eyes to her mouth.

"Probably a dozen ways," Kagome laughed, reluctantly untangling herself and drawing him towards the house again. "Well?"

He shook his head. "I will reveal it on New Year's."

"When you kiss me again?" she asked, still warm from her cheeks down to her toes.

Sesshoumaru gave the small smile that she had seen on his human face twice already. "That would be a promising start to fulfilling my resolution," he agreed.


	9. Twelve Christmases

A/N: Warning of COMPLETE and UTTER fluff. LoL. Anyway, this was *also* written for the story exchange for Dokuga through LJ's dokuga_exchange comm. I was asked to stand in for someone who wasn't able to make the deadline. Unlike "Gifts of Silver", I wasn't on complete crack for this one-shot. I don't think so, anyway. :P Anyway, I wrote this for tenchi no mai. Hope she enjoys it.

**Twelve Christmases**

_In the first year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

"Inuyasha, stop!" She stepped in front of the transformed Tetsusaiga with her hands on her hips. "We're not going to get anything accomplished like this! Just listen, for once, to what someone else has to say." She leaned in closer. "Don't make me say it, Inuyasha. Please. It's Christmas."

"Who cares about your stupid holidays?" he muttered.

The miko sighed. "Inuyasha," she began.

The hanyou scowled, but let the heavy blade of his sword fall to the snowy ground. "Fine," he interrupted. He looked over her shoulder. "What do you want, you bastard?"

Kagome rolled her eyes and turned to the taiyoukai. "I'm sorry, Lord Sesshoumaru," she murmured. "You took us by surprise. You said you had a proposal to discuss?"

"Hn. Naraku is close, but powerful with his nearly completed jewel. I had arrived to suggest a combination of our forces for the strongest attack, but I see that my half-brother prefers to go blundering about without any plan," the dog demon replied.

"Oh, no! Don't think that!" she protested, as Sango and Miroku held back the swearing hanyou. "I think you're right. We should work together."

His golden eyes flickered over to his sibling. "Hesitation in this will only lead to our deaths," he said.

She bit at her lip. "I give you my word that Inuyasha will behave," Kagome said. "Just... try not to rile him up intentionally?"

He nodded, accepting her terms.

_In the second year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

Sesshoumaru wasn't sure how he had been dragged into this. All he could remember was that the young miko had asked him to come to the celebration of Naraku's death, and something in her large, hopeful eyes made him want to say 'yes'. He must have actually said it, since she had clapped her hands and tugged him towards the center of the village.

The villagers were giving him a wide berth, but the miko didn't seem to notice. "I'm so glad you arrived in time for this!"

He wanted to explain that it was nothing but a coincidence - he had come with the motley group of fighters and miko to the village to retrieve Rin, Jaken and Ah-Un after the battle, not to dance and drink. Certainly not to share any sort of war stories, like the monk was currently doing, under the watchful eye of his betrothed. "I do not care for crowds of humans," he muttered.

She smiled at him. "I think it shows just how much you've improved that you can even stand to be here for a moment," she said.

"I needed improvement in some way?" he asked, arching a brow.

The miko laughed. "I'll get Rin and Jaken for you. You can get out of here while everyone's distracted. I'll give you a good escape plan, too."

"Ridiculous. Why would I require such a thing?"

"Because there are some women here that don't care what you are," she said pointing to a few, giggling women that were trying to make eyes at him. "Enough sake, and they'll chase you just to touch your hair."

He stared. "My hair?"

Kagome laughed again. "Well, among other things."

_In the third year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

He was watching over Rin when she sat down in the snow next to him. "Hi."

He glanced at her and saw the unshed tears in her eyes. "My brother has been an idiot again," he surmised.

"Inuyasha is _always_ an idiot!" she fumed. "You know, the Jewel's completion closed the well and left me here forever - fine. I can live with that. Inuyasha decided to marry the undead woman I wished back to life, because I was just a 'great friend' and nothing more - fine. I want them to be happy. But I will not be told by anyone - especially him - that I need to move on with my life, find a husband and have some kids. Just because that's what everyone else I know is doing, doesn't mean I have to, as well!"

Sesshoumaru waited until her breathing evened out again. "What do you plan to do?"

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. That's the problem. I guess I'll train to become the next priestess. Kikyo's alive again, but married. Kaede isn't getting any younger."

"It is an honorable vocation," he said. "Far more use than bringing quarter-demons into this world."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," she said, although she was smiling. "But thank you."

"I was only being honest."

She leaned into his shoulder for just a moment. "You know, Sesshoumaru? I'll give you this - you aren't at all like your brother. You actually know what to say to a girl."

"Hn." He nodded. "Thank you."

_In the fourth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

She had her own hut, now. When he visited Rin, he would stop to take some tea in her home, preferring hers over the old woman's. She wore the robes of a priestess, too, but ignored the whispers that his visits created. He tried not to appreciate her the more for it.

"This is for Kikyo and Inuyasha's new baby," she told him when his eyes fell on all the bits of cloth scattered around the room. "And these are for Sango and Miroku's twin girls. And this is for Rin. And this, for Shippo. It'll be a little late this year, but I don't think they'll mind. There's no Christmas here, after all."

"Aside from the one you create," he said.

Kagome beamed at him. "Right." She turned and pulled another bit of cloth from the wooden chest. "Here's yours, by the way. I finished it first."

The taiyoukai accepted the long strip of wool. "An obi?" he questioned.

She leaned over him, so that he could smell every dried herb she had been working with that day. "No, silly. It's a scarf!" she announced, looping around his neck. "To keep you warm."

"I do not experience cold and warm weather as humans do," he pointed out, pulling on one end to inspect the careful stitching. "It is good work, however."

Kagome grinned and sat beside him. "I know it's pointless, but it's what people did in my time. We give presents to our family and friends."

He leaned back and looked at her, wondering which category he fell into.

_In the fifth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

"I wish there was some snow," she lamented.

"That would impair our ability to collect suitable firewood," he pointed out as he tucked another log under his arm. "You should have done this earlier."

"I did!" Kagome protested. "But what was I supposed to do? We're in the baby-making capital of Japan these days, I swear. I delivered five babies over the past few weeks, and every one of them took a huge share of my supply. And then, there were those travelers that were sick. I had to keep the fire going for them. And then..."

He held up a free hand. "I get the picture," he said, borrowing one of her phrases. "Next year, I will ensure that you are prepared for the coming winter."

Even his demon reflexes couldn't react in time for the bruising hug she gave to him.

_In the sixth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

He pressed a hand to her forehead. "You have a fever."

"I know," she croaked, "but so does half of the rest of the village. I have to get medicine to them."

Sesshoumaru glanced at the herbs strewn across the strips of linen. "What is required?"

"Everyone has to chew some of this mushroom, and it would really help if they drank a tea of this herb."

"Give them to me," he said. "I will attend to them."

Her bleary eyes widened. "Sesshoumaru, that's crazy. Just because they're used to seeing you, doesn't mean they aren't terrified."

"Would they rather see me or Death?" he asked.

Kagome placed the mushrooms in his outstretched hand. "I trust you," she said.

_In the seventh year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

She held Inuyasha's son on her lap, tickling him as he squirmed and laughed. "He looks almost entirely human," muttered Sesshoumaru as he watched.

Kagome brushed back the little boy's black hair and smiled into his golden eyes. "Not entirely though," she said. "Right, Ichiro? You're strong, like your father and your uncle."

"And grandpa!" Ichiro added, giggling again.

The miko glanced at Sesshoumaru with a smile. "I would imagine so," she agreed.

Inuyasha appeared at the door, brushing aside the woven flap that hung over it and letting in a rush of cold air. "Oh, you're still here," he huffed.

"Your brother was helping me look after Ichiro," said Kagome.

"Half-brother," both Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru said in unison.

"Right." She stood up and kissed Ichiro goodbye before depositing him in his father's arms. "Did you have any trouble with the exorcism?"

"Nah. Miroku did most of the work for once. I didn't even use Tetsusaiga."

Kagome grinned, and Sesshoumaru felt the ease of their old friendship settle around him. "Maybe next time," she teased. "Get home to your wife."

The hanyou thanked her and left with Ichiro waving a farewell to his 'Aunt Kagome' over his father's shoulder. It was only when the door flap had closed and the warm began to fill the hut again, that Sesshoumaru noticed the sadness in her eyes. "You still wish for him?" he asked.

"What?" She looked up at her companion. "Who? Inuyasha? No, of course not. It's been years."

"Then, what?"

She shrugged. "I'm twenty-one this year," she said. "That wasn't old in my time, but here..."

"You once said that you had no wish for a husband and children."

"I didn't want to be forced into it," she corrected, "but that doesn't mean I don't want it. And with Ichiro and the twins and all the other kids around me, sometimes, it's hard to remember why I went down the path of a priestess."

"It is not necessarily permanent," he said, wondering why he felt the need to comfort her.

"It doesn't need to be," Kagome admitted. She paused and looked back at him, before giving up her secret. "But I'm afraid it will be, anyway."

_In the eighth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

The wedding feast of the headman's daughter was winding down, although Rin was still dancing with Kohaku, and Sango and Miroku were laughing quietly on the steps of their hut. He watched Kagome began her walk back to her own home, alone, and met her halfway.

"I see that there will be another marriage soon," he said, surprising her by speaking first.

She followed his line of sight to his ward and the young, male taijiya. "She likes him a lot," Kagome admitted. "Kohaku is growing into a good man. You shouldn't worry too much though. She's still a little young to get married. I know she hasn't kissed him yet."

He blinked. "How do you know this?"

"Rin told Sango. Sango told me. I do have other friends, aside from you," she said with a smile.

"I find him to be honorable for a human," Sesshoumaru said. "However, a demon slayer's wife was not what I had imagined for her."

She smiled, and he knew that she found his concern charming. He huffed and turned his face away, refusing to say anything more. "Come on," Kagome said, taking his arm and leading him back towards her hut, gently giving him the assurances he said that he did not need. And yet, by the time she had put the water on for tea, he felt his heart had grown lighter again.

_In the ninth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

He had gone to her - to a miko, instead of his own healers. She had taken one look at his bloodied haori and ordered him to lie down beside the fire. "I know that you'll be alright," she said, when he moved to push her away. Her hands dipped the cloth into the warm water, and she continued to wipe away the dirt and blood on his chest. "That doesn't mean you should just suck it up. You came to me for a reason, I would think."

Sesshoumaru gave a labored sigh. "You were closest."

She eyed him, and he wondered if she could see through his lie. "Well, I do know something about treating demons," she said, side-stepping the issue entirely. "So you have that going for you." She pressed on wound that was spilling the most blood onto her floor, staunching the bleeding with most of her weight. "Did you win?"

"Of course, I did," he murmured as she reached across him for some foul-smelling medicine that she pressed into his injuries.

"I can't imagine anyone looking worse than this," Kagome replied.

He caught her hand - even in his weakened state, he was far stronger than her. "Why do you sound annoyed?"

She scowled at him. "Because you shouldn't be getting into these fights! We would be... I mean, Rin..." She stopped, and her scowl deepened. "You should realize that people care about you and don't want to see you hurt."

Sesshoumaru released her. "I do not need your concern."

"Well, I'm giving it to you anyway," she snapped back. "Deal with it."

He brushed away a tear that began to roll down her cheek, and they froze for a long moment, staring at one another. When she turned back to attend to the rest of his wounds in silence, he didn't try to draw her into a conversation again, too startled by what he had seen in her eyes.

_In the tenth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

"You haven't been here in awhile," she murmured. "Months."

"Rin does not need me as much as she once did," he replied with a shrug.

"She still wants you here, even if she has Kohaku to look after her now," Kagome said. She stirred the stew, deliberately not meeting his eyes. "I've missed you, too."

He nodded and sat beside her. "There were moments I thought of you," he said. He paused, knowing that all of his inner struggles over the past several months could come down to a word. "Often."

She smiled, and he knew she understood. "Ten years, and we've ended up here," she said with a soft sigh. "I was too young, then. I'm too old, now. We've wasted years. When did that tip in the balance? When did everything change?"

"I do not know," he admitted.

"And why didn't I say anything when I knew?" she breathed.

He shook his head. "Perhaps, you were aware that I was not prepared to say anything in return."

Kagome took a deep breath and pushed it all out, making the firelight flicker. "And, now, it's all over?"

Sesshoumaru reached out and stilled her hand, taking it in his. "I did not say that," he said. "I will be gone for some time to look for an answer."

"I thought that's what you've been doing," she said.

"No," he murmured. "I wished to know whether I should look for an answer at all."

"Took you that long, huh?" she asked, cracking a wry smile. It dropped away after a moment. "Listen, Sesshoumaru. If you don't find whatever you're looking for..." She trailed off and shrugged, and he knew that she was giving him permission to not return.

He got to his feet. "I will come back," he promised.

_In the eleventh year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

He had been gone for a whole year, and when he returned, she didn't ask if he had been successful. She dropped the basket full of the winter berries she had been collecting with Sango and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. He could see the former demon slayer's eyes widen when he returned Kagome's embrace. "You took too long," she admonished gently.

"Hn. It does not look as if a day has passed," he murmured into her hair. And even though it didn't matter to her - or to him - any longer, he added, "I found it."

She smiled up at him. "Found what?" she asked, before giving him a kiss.

_In the twelfth year, on Christmas, my true love gave to me..._

Sesshoumaru stood outside the small hut with his eyes fixed to the door. Rin, standing with Kohaku and their toddler, whispered, "It'll be alright, Lord Sesshoumaru. You would know if it went any other way, right?"

He nodded, his hand flexing and relaxing over the hilt of Tenseiga. Miroku stared at the ground with remarkable concentration as Shippo fidgeted. Inuyasha was leaning up against the wall, looking bored, save for his ears flicking over to hear the goings-on every other moment. Even the dullest of human ears could hear every cry and plea though. Sesshoumaru turned away as Kagome sobbed.

A moment of silence passed by, and everyone outside let go of the breath they had been holding when they heard the wail of a newborn.

Sesshoumaru opened the eyes he didn't know he had closed to see Sango, sweating but smiling, in the doorway. "She's alright. Everything's wonderful," the former taijiya said. "Go on in."

The hut smelled of blood but also of life, and he hovered for a minute, waiting as the midwife wrapped the baby and tucked it into the futon beside Kagome. The former miko smiled when she saw him. "It's a boy."

He crossed the room with less grace than he had ever had, coming to his knees next to her. "You gave me a son," he said, brushing the pads of his fingers over the baby's downy, white hair and tiny, triangular ears. A crescent moon graced his brow.

She leaned back against the cushions, grinning up at him. "I hope it's alright that this is your only Christmas gift this year."

Sesshoumaru smirked. "I believe it is the best one I have ever received. Even more so than the scarf."

Kagome laughed, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "Now, you get to give him a name," she said.

"You need to rest. The name can wait a few moments," he replied, knowing what it would be already. He stretched out on the futon with the baby between them and watched Kagome's eyes slowly shut as she began to doze off.

"Merry Christmas, Sesshoumaru," she murmured sleepily.

He gave her a real smile and replied, "Merry Christmas, Kagome."

* * *

A/N: Okay, that's it for now. ;) Enjoy these two "please don't kill me for not updating BYIT yet" Christmas stories. (It *is* coming along, just at the pace of a glacier...)

Merry Christmas!


	10. A Midwinter Romance

A/N: Written for Dokuga's fic exchange this past Christmas.

The song lyrics are from first verse and refrain of the traditional English carol, "The Holly and the Ivy". They don't have a particular purpose, aside from scene breaks. ;)

**A Midwinter Romance**

Just after the first, heavy snowfall, Sesshoumaru finds the miko rolling large ball of snow with the fox kit. Rin runs ahead to join them, and it's her shriek of happiness that warns the priestess of his presence.

She shades her eyes against the bright sun that reflects off of the whiteness all around them. "Want to help us build the biggest snowman Edo has ever seen?" she laughs. She doesn't seem surprised when he doesn't deign to answer, and she turns instead to give the children guidance in their efforts. It's only when they have three, enormous spheres that she looks back at him. "Could you help us, Sesshoumaru-sama? The middle part is way too big for me to lift."

He's inclined to ignore her again, but when Rin announces that she will help to carry the weight of the snow, he moves closer to spare them all from that inevitable disaster. Jaken sputters, but he ignores it easily. "Where?" he asks, lifting the middle-sized snowball.

"On top of the largest one, please," the miko says, grinning broadly. "Thank you so much, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

He hovers as they finish off their project - the miko has brought some spare odds and ends, and he sees a rudimentary face take shape. "What _is_ it?" he asks at last.

"A snowman," she answers. "You know, a man made out of snow? Kids do this all the time where I'm from."

"The future," he says, watching her eyes widen. It was a guess, but an educated one - he has seen the world and encountered no one like her. The magical well was a big hint, too.

"Yeah," she hums, almost automatically.

"Men must look very odd in the future," he mutters, his eyes sweeping down the length of the misshapen thing. "Perhaps it explains your taste in my idiot half-brother."

The priestess's surprise is gone in an instant as she rolls her eyes. "Inuyasha and I are just friends for one thing," she says. "And it's not supposed to be a perfect depiction of any person. It's sort of like abstract art."

"What is 'abstract art'?" Sesshoumaru questions.

She laughs a little at that, but he doesn't get angry, because he can see that she's not mocking him. "I don't think I can really explain it. You'll just have to be patient and find out for yourself." She pauses and brushes her hair out of her face. "_Very_ patient."

"Something at which I excel," he retorts calmly.

_The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown...  
_

A few weeks later, she's dancing in the middle of the forest. He stops and stares, taking a moment to realize that she's also gathering firewood, although the spins and complex footwork impede her work. He also notes that she's keeping remarkably good time.

She stops short and turns to look in his direction, although it's getting far too dark for her to identify his exact location. "I know that you're out there!" she calls. He admits to himself that there's something to be admired in the steadiness in her voice, as she faces the unknown. Then, she pulls something from her ears, and he can discern a faint, metallic rhythm.

Out of pure curiosity, he steps closer - her shoulders relax as soon as the white of his haori is visible to her weaker, human eyes. "Sesshoumaru-sama! You scared me," she chides gently.

"What is making that noise?" he asks, looking to where long, thick strands of white rope are dangling from her fingers. She hesitates, and it's easy to deduce the reason. "Something else from your era?"

She nods and pulls a small box from her pocket. In spite of himself, he leans over her shoulder to watch the flickering light that comes out of it. "It plays music without musicians actually being here," she explains. "Anything that I want."

He can't quite wrap his head around that, but he doesn't say so. The illusion of understanding is far more important at the moment. "Do you intentionally hide this marvel from your companions?"

"What? No, of course not," she says. "They don't really like it though. It's a little too odd, you know?" She looks up at him, holding out the twin, white ropes that were attached to her ears. "Would you like to try it out?"

Sesshoumaru dismisses any concerns that her companions might have had about the contraption - they are cowards, he decides, if they do not have the strength to inspect what will come in their future. So, he accepts her offer, and they settle down at the base of a tree while she makes little humming noises and decides what music to play for him. He doesn't suggest anything - he's intrigued by what she might choose.

She leaves the 'headphones', as she calls them, on his bent knee out of concern for his sensitive hearing. "Here's something," she says, the little box clicking as she works. "It's from your future, but still far in _my_ past. Classical music is as radical as we should get. How about Mozart?"

The first notes emanate from the white strings, and he listens, trying not to show his amazement. It sounds as if fifty people are inside the small, metal item that she can hold in her hand. It takes him a long time to recover from that, but when he does, his heart rate speeds up for a different reason - the melodies that intertwine seem to fill the forest with their transient beauty. It _is_ odd. There is no denying that the musical theories that he was forced to learn as a child have little to do with what he's hearing. But Sesshoumaru has always been gifted at recognizing genius.

"Pretty, isn't it?" she asks when the song ends.

"Another," he says, eliciting a smile from her.

And although their meeting is cut short by the appearance of the demon slayer who was sent to find her and the needed firewood, he finds that he has enjoyed his time with her. She is far more intelligent than he gave her credit for in the past - she answers his questions but refuses to reveal anything of the future. He quickly learns her mantra that he must be willing to wait for answers.

_Of all the trees that are in the wood, the holly bears the crown.  
_

It doesn't seem to surprise her that he visits often throughout the winter days, but it horrifies her companions. "I don't think that they really get it," she says one day, when she has slipped away to meet him outside the village. There's nothing illicit in their conversations, but she prefers not to listen to the grumbling of his moron of a half-brother. "Someday, I'm going to go home. I think I should be able to spend my free time as I want. You're going to remember all of this a lot longer than most of the people in this time."

"You would choose to leave?" he asks, looking up from the newest thing she has brought back for him - a 'paperback book'. The printed words have fascinated him since the first time she showed him one of her textbooks. He can see why her schooling is so important to her.

"No," she says, not sounding entirely certain about it. "I don't know. I don't feel I'll be given a choice." She shrugs.

He has come to accept that she 'feels' things instead of breaking them down with logic. In this case, he almost feels that she could be right.

"If you are still around in my time, would you come to visit me?" she asks.

He hesitates. Meeting a human miko that is friends with the thorn in his side that is Inuyasha is one thing, but making promises is another. He knows that it's roughly five hundred years until she is alive again, and that is a long time, even for him. "Perhaps."

"Alright," she replies without any indication whether she is hurt by his answer.

"What will you do when you are home?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "That's a question even I don't know the answer to. Finish school, I guess, and then try to find something to do with my life. I'll probably help my family run the shrine."

He weighs the book in his hand, knowing that she has already read it twice. "There is much that you can do, Kagome," he says.

Her smile is bright enough to pierce the gloom of the winter morning, and he knows in that moment that he will discover what great things she will do, even if it does take five centuries.

_Oh, the rising of the sun and the running of the deer...  
_

The biting winds of midwinter start to ebb away when the final battle with Naraku suddenly becomes imminent. Every day, they wait to see when the spider will come after the last few jewel shards that they have in their possession. He finds that he doesn't mind - when Kagome tires of Inuyasha's pacing, she comes to see him instead. Her friends still disapprove, but they no longer insist that someone accompany her - they realize that he will protect her.

Still, he is aware that, if the miko is right, she will be taken back to her time soon enough. Considering how chaste their interactions remain, he is surprised by how much this bothers him - he is even more surprised by how quickly she has affected the change within him. He knows that he wouldn't have cared one way or another last autumn.

"Will we succeed?" he asks during one of her visits.

She gives him an exasperated glance. "I don't know the answer to that. Maybe the future I know would change if we failed. Maybe it wouldn't." She sighs. "You'll just have to..."

"Wait and see," he finishes for her.

She reached out and touches his sleeve - one of the few deliberate moments of physical contact between them. "I think we will," she says with that steady voice that has always impressed him. She has more faith than anyone.

He wants to tell the priestess that he believes that they will win as well, but his cold logic refuses to ignore the possibility that they might fail. And so, he cannot go on to tell her that he will take her to the great libraries and concert halls of her future world when he finds her again - that Mozart and Shakespeare will wait for her. He cannot promise anything, because he never wants to break an oath that he gives to her.

In reality, he doesn't even know if she would care one way or another if he ever found her again. He knows that he should ask, but he would rather have something to look forward to, even if it's a false hope.

_The playing of the merry organ, sweet singing in the choir._

He waits. He isn't idle, but he is always waiting. Even the moment she reappears in her time, bruised and bloody from the successful battle against Naraku, is too soon. He waits for her to heal, both physically and emotionally, from the trauma of being ripped from her other life. It almost takes longer than he can bear.

It's snowing again when he finally walks up to the front door of the shrine. He can hear Christmas carols on the radio inside the house and smell the hot chocolate that's been warmed on the stove. It takes him a very long time to get up the strength to knock - he's waited for so long that it almost seems unnatural that he should stop now.

But when he does, it's her that answers the door. Although he's checked up on her since her return, she looks more beautiful that he remembers. She also looks more shocked than he's ever seen her - even when he watched her fall down the well for the very first time, back when she was fifteen. She is, for once, at a complete loss for words. The blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders is slipping.

He gently pushes her back into the house so that he can shut the door again. "I have waited for you," he says. He's far better at expressing his emotions after spending so long in the company of humans, but he knows that it might startle her further, so he keeps it simple. "I have seen all those marvels that you showed to me five hundred years ago, and I have all of my answers."

When the blanket falls to the floor, she's purposefully let it go to fling her arms around him. "All of them?" she asks, pressing her lips to his cheekbone, where his markings are cleverly hidden underneath a spell.

"I just received the response to my last one," he says, pulling back to look into her eyes, which are shining with tears.

She's laughing and crying all at once. "Me too," she replies, just as she reaches up to kiss him at last.


	11. The Midnight Train

A/N: Written for Dokuga's fic exhange this past Christmas. I was asked to stand in and write for someone that had to drop out - this story went to Aimee_Blue. Her requested prompts were "a midnight meeting on a train", "a doctor advising someone to appreciate the little things in life" or "Sesshoumaru has a lingering childhood fear of snow". I tried to work them all in - it's always difficult for me to write a one-shot with Kagome and Sesshoumaru ending up together within a short period of time, but I rather like this one. I know it's a bit silly though, lol. The recipient was happy, so that's all that I really cared about!

There aren't many overnight trains left in Japan, but one of them goes from Tokyo to Sapporo and is called the _Cassiopeia_. It's a luxury train, where the ultimate cabin takes up an entire car.

**The Midnight Train**

Kagome stood on the platform, clutching both her ticket and her overstuffed bag. _I should turn straight around and cash this ticket back in_, she thought to herself. The amount of the fare - an incredible twenty-one thousand yen for the 'cheapest' seat - was still making her stomach twist. But that was the price of waiting until the last minute to make her travel plans for the holiday. The buses and the planes were booked, as well as the less expensive trains, and the luxury, overnight line was all that remained.

She shook her head clear - this would be her Christmas present to herself, was all. A pleasant train ride, as opposed to the cramped conditions of her everyday commute to work, would be a treat. She would have seventeen hours in which to relax before meeting up with her entire extended family in Sapporo for their annual skiing trip. As much as she loved them all, they could be exhausting. She could only hope that the number of times she was asked about her love life would stay in the double digits.

The announcement for stragglers came over the loudspeaker, and making her decision, Kagome stepped forward and onto the train. Her cabin was towards the front, a small but plush room with two twin-sized beds and a desk in front of the large window in the facing wall. She dumped her bag onto the first bed just as the train gave a lurch and began to move.

Kagome settled into one of the armchairs that sat in front of the desk and watched Tokyo slide by as the sky grew dark. She flipped through a magazine as she listened to people passing by her door, going to and from the dining car or the showers. Only after a few stops of the train at its stations on the main island did she put aside her reading and stand up, stretching. Her stomach gave a tremendous growl, and she glanced at her watch.

It was almost midnight, she realized with a start. No wonder she was hungry. She felt a little lonely too, to be honest. Relaxing as this was, Kagome was not the type to shy away from human contact.

She was surprised to find the dining car completely packed - the holidays seemed to have induced everyone on the train to congregate in a single car for its free-flowing liquor. And given the drunken laughs she heard, they'd been at it for the entire ride so far. She managed to squeeze through the crowd and reach the corner of the bar. "I lost track of time," she said sheepishly. "Is the kitchen still open?"

The waiter paused in opening a bottle of wine. "Of course, miss," he answered, handing over a menu.

She was still deliberating whether she wanted a salad or something far richer and more substantial when the door at the end of the car opened. The jolt of a demonic aura flowed through the cabin in an instant.

Kagome tried to keep her focus on the menu - demons, as a general rule, hated to be stared at - but when she heard the awed whispers, she couldn't help herself. She glanced up just as the demon passed by, clearly intent on crossing to the other end of the car. All she caught was a flash of silver hair in the reflection of the mirror behind the bar as the youkai swept past.

"Are you ready to order, miss?" asked the waiter, a bit distracted - he was staring after the demon that had just disappeared again.

She shook her head. "I guess I'm not hungry," she murmured, passing the menu back.

Without waiting for an answer - and without knowing exactly what she was doing - she crossed the car and opened the door, just in time to see the silver-haired demon pause at the other end.

Kagome swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat and closed the door behind her. _He's gorgeous_, she thought as the youkai turned to face her. The brilliance of his golden eyes were visible even at this distance, and his thickly braided hair rested on the shoulder of an impeccable suit. Out loud she said, "I'm sorry. You startled me back there, and I had to... check."

He took a few steps towards her. "You are a miko," he said.

She nodded. "Not one of those crazy ones that calls for segregation between demons and humans," she assured him. "My family has a tiny shrine on the edge of Tokyo, but I'm not a very good priestess. I didn't sense you until you stepped into the dining car, and I should have. You're the most powerful demon I've ever come across."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Your kind wiped out many of _my _kind centuries ago. There are few of my status left."

"I'm sorry," she murmured again.

"But you underestimate your own power," he continued, as if she hadn't spoken. "The fact that you sensed me at all is an accomplishment."

"Everyone in there knew that you were a demon," Kagome pointed out.

"They only used their eyes," he replied. "You should be properly trained."

She arched an eyebrow. "You're advocating training for a miko?"

He shrugged. "Talent should not be wasted. The old ways should not die simply because our two species are at peace."

The cabin door closest to Kagome opened, and a hassled-looking mother carried a small boy into the corridor. She paused at the sight of Kagome but spotting the male demon at the other end of the car sent her scrambling back into her room. The distinct sound of the lock turning and frantic voices followed.

"_Mostly_ at peace," Kagome amended. "I guess I should let you get back to your cabin. It's getting late anyway."

"It is," he agreed.

She hesitated. "I'm Kagome Higurashi, by the way. It was nice to meet you..." She trailed off.

He obliged her unspoken request. "Sesshoumaru Taisho."

"Are you going all the way to Sapporo, Taisho-san?"

"Yes, and beyond. I have a winter home outside of Asahikawa," Sesshoumaru replied.

"All the way up there? You must love snow," she said.

He straightened ever so slightly. "Actually, I do not care for it. I value its privacy more than anything."

The door to the cabin next to Kagome opened again and the woman from before scowled out at them. "People are trying to sleep, you know!" she hissed before glancing at Sesshoumaru with thinly veiled contempt. She muttered something indistinct, but clearly rude, and the door snapped shut once more.

Kagome colored. "I really _should_ go." She put a hand on her stomach as it growled again. "I still haven't eaten."

"You are going into that maelstrom?" he asked, nodding towards the dining car.

"What other choice do I have?" she countered with a shrug. "It's not as loud for me as it must be for you, after all."

"I do not eat food prepared on trains, and my assistant packed far more than I require. You may share my dinner, if you would dare to cross a demon's threshold," Sesshoumaru said. His tone challenged her to be different from the rude woman in the neighboring cabin.

Kagome thought of the drunken crowd in the car behind her. "Alright," she decided, moving towards him. "I'm probably safer with you than with them."

He cocked his head. "You are likely the only one that believes so on this train," he said as they stepped into the small compartment that sat between the cars and unlocked the door to the last car.

"It's entirely yours?" she asked.

"I told you that I value my privacy," he replied, allowing her to go through first.

"Wow. No kidding," Kagome murmured, taking in the deluxe suite. If her room was luxurious travel, Sesshoumaru's was nice enough to treat as a permanent home. A private lounge area and dining table were immediately visible, stretching half the length of the car. "This is already larger than my apartment. You have your own bar and everything."

"Stocked, if you wish for a drink."

She smiled and shook her head. "No, thanks. I might accept invitations from strange youkai to go into their rooms at night, but I draw the line at drinking liquor there," she laughed.

Sesshoumaru pulled a large bento box from the refrigerator behind the bar as she made herself comfortable at the table. The last bits of landscape were passing by - soon, they would be going underground to pass underneath the channel that separated the main island from Hokkaido. "So, why do you go so far north when you don't like snow?" she asked. "I'm guessing that you don't ski either, even though Asahikawa is famous for it."

"I was once in a small avalanche when I was young," he said, putting plates out. "I was covered for an hour before my father found me."

Kagome blinked. "That must have been terrifying!"

"It was not pleasant," Sesshoumaru replied. "But I refuse to be mastered by a childhood fear."

"So you surround yourself by it?" she asked. "I don't have any stories close to yours, but I keep to the lodge while my family skis. I much prefer the warm fire and hot chocolate to getting bruises and snow everywhere."

"Such things happen less frequently when you practice, so I am told," the demon said, arching an eyebrow in her direction.

"Details," she said with a laugh as he began to dish out the food. She picked up a piece of sushi with her chopsticks and inspected it. "Hand-done? Your assistant is dedicated. Look at all this food!"

Sesshoumaru shrugged. "He is fastidious, and he has been in my service for a very long time. I do not think he could conceive of deviating from our long-established routines."

"Sounds like you could use a break from your 'long-established routines'," Kagome said.

"Am I incorrect in guessing that this trip for you is an annual tradition?" he countered.

She gave him a small smile. "Okay, I'll give you that one. Still, it sounds like you need to shake things up a bit. Is that why you're going up to your winter place? Or is that something _you_ do every year?"

"My work is demanding. If I do attempt this trip with some regularity, it still provides a respite," he said.

Kagome popped a piece of tempura in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "So, you have a high-stress job and an assistant and this gorgeous room. What do you do? I don't think I've ever met a demon with a so-called 'normal' career. They're all artists or world travelers or writers - things that give them lots of freedom. They hate being tied down."

"Hn. I require more discipline in my life than that," he replied, lifting his chin a bit. She would have thought that he was being a snob if a flash of doubt didn't pass through his eyes a moment later. "I am an investment banker, and that provides enough excitement in my professional life."

She raised a speculative eyebrow. "Sounds like it."

He ignored her sarcasm. "Do you act as your shrine's priestess?"

"When I'm needed," Kagome replied. "But actually, I'm a nurse. Now _there's _excitement for you, although it's gotten a lot better recently. I used to work in the emergency room, but as interesting as it was, it was also exhausting. A doctor friend of mine suggested that I take some time to enjoy the simpler things in life, so now, I work in the maternity ward."

He gave her an appraising look. "That does not surprise me."

"Everyone says that," she said with a soft sigh. "Apparently, I'm a maternal sort of person."

"I was going to say that you seem like the kind and calm presence that a woman would need when she is in labor," Sesshoumaru said.

Kagome paused in lifting another piece of sushi to her mouth. "Thank you," she said quietly. "That's nice of you to say. It's not like I mind being called maternal, but sometimes, I feel like that's all I'm seen as. I don't even have children, but if I did, I would be more than a mother. That's not the sum total of anyone."

"Most mothers would say the same, I would imagine," he replied.

She smiled broadly. "No doubt. What about yours? Is she or your father joining you up north?"

"No, I will be entirely alone."

Her face fell. "But what fun is that? Private is one thing, but alone?"

He shook his head. "I assure you that I do not require company in order to be content."

"You clearly didn't mind having company tonight," she observed. "That wasn't spurred by an urge to break out of those long-established routines you were talking about?"

The corner of his mouth turned up, ever so slightly. "You followed me. There was no hatred or fear - only curiosity. It was something I have never encountered before with a miko. You intrigued me."

She couldn't stop the blush that spread across her cheeks. "Really?"

"Does the idea embarrass you?" Sesshoumaru asked. "If you wish, you can ascribe it to the fact that we are, by tradition, mortal enemies. And who would sacrifice the chance to learn more about one's opponent?"

Kagome laughed quietly. "No, I won't think about it like that," she said. "I just wish that anyone else - my family, for instance - would see me like you apparently do. They've had years, and they've never given me as much credit as you have in just an hour."

"They think poorly of you?"

"No. No, not at all," she corrected quickly. "They love me, and I love them. But every passing year, I think they pity me a little more. Because I don't have a husband and three kids already, they see me as lonely and sad. To be honest, I didn't even want to make the trip up to Sapporo this year. Last year, I think I got introduced to every single man of marriageable age within the city limits."

"And are you lonely and sad?" he asked.

Kagome hesitated, knowing a demon could smell a lie with ease. "Sometimes. I have friends and even the occasional date, but who isn't lonely on occasion? Besides you, apparently."

Golden eyes fixed upon her, and she held her breath as he murmured, "There are exceptions to every rule, Kagome."

88888888888888888888888

"Kagome! Oh, I'm so glad you could make it, dear," her mother greeted, rising from the plush sofa in the lodge's great room and gathering her daughter in her arms. "How was the trip up? I hope you got a lot of rest, because your uncles are already talking about how to drag you out onto the slopes this year. I don't know if they'll take 'no' for an answer."

She smiled, thinking of her all-night conversation with Sesshoumaru on the train - she had only gone back to her cabin in the morning to fetch her bag. He'd been nothing but a gentleman, but she was hesitant to say a word about that strange, but lovely, encounter to her own mother. "Yeah, I did. Thanks for the warning though. They're still going to be disappointed."

Her mother pulled back and smiled in understanding. "You should also know that your aunts are scouring the lodge for eligible young men."

"Oh, are they sticking to men below the age of forty this year?" Kagome laughed.

"You're taking the news well," the older woman noted. "I tried talking to them out of it, thinking they would be making you miserable again."

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. I'm trying not to worry about things like that right now."

"Well, they've already found their first one, so expect him any second. I think they plucked him right out of the lobby after he checked in, the poor man." Her mother sighed and pointed over her shoulder. "And there they are."

"That's a record time," Kagome said as she turned around.

Her three aunts were ushering forward a scrawny little man, who looked like he was ready to bolt at any moment. Her relatives - darling women, save for their habit of interfering with her love life at every available moment - were whispering in the man's ears. Probably giving advice and tips that would ultimately backfire.

"Kagome!" cried her eldest aunt, Chiyo. "Come here and meet Rokuro-kun."

With a reassuring squeeze of the hand from her mother, Kagome dutifully moved forward to meet her aunts and the trembling man. But just as she was about to give her aunts a bit of a speech and secure Rokuro's release from their clutches, she saw a newly familiar figure enter the room. "Sesshoumaru," she called, stepping neatly around her confused relatives.

The demon gave her the half-smile that she had come to recognize over the course of their lengthy conversation. "Already being presented with suitors?" he asked, nodding towards the little group of aunts.

"I wasn't exaggerating," she laughed. "But why are you here? You said that you were going to go straight to your house in Asahikawa."

"I felt compelled to change my plans from the long-established tradition," he said, "in order to help you stop _your_ long-established traditions."

"That was quick," Kagome said, stepping closer to him.

He nodded as he reached out to touch her arm. "When I make a decision, I implement the change as soon as possible."

The aunts suddenly roused themselves. "Kagome," Chiyo broke in, "who _is_ this? Have you forgotten poor Rokuro-kun?" She gestured towards the empty place where the man had once stood, seeming surprised that he had fled. "Wait, where is he?"

"He must have stepped away to attend to something," suggested Kagome's mother, tossing a wink towards her daughter. "You should find him, Chiyo."

The three woman agreed and dispersed, calling out for Rokuro, as Kagome grinned. "Your mother has sense, at least," noted Sesshoumaru, as the elder woman drifted back towards her seat in front of the fire and her book.

"My aunts just want me to be happy," the miko said.

"You seem to have done quite well on your own," he replied.

"You're very vain," she said, trying not to laugh too much. "This is all so crazy. We talked for one night. What about that whole mortal enemies thing?"

Sesshoumaru arched a brow. "Why did you follow me? Why did you trust me despite what we both are?"

She shook her head, remembering that pull of his presence. "I don't know. I felt like... I had to."

"Then, you do understand," he said. "That was my instinct as well, and I am never wrong."

Kagome drew him close, still unsure of how this was possible. But the urge to to trust Sesshoumaru ran deeper than any doubts, and it felt right to give in to that. After all - he wasn't just saving her. She knew that she was saving him as well. "I don't know what the aunts will do with themselves from now on," she laughed right before she kissed him.


End file.
